Lost
by Selene AS
Summary: Harry Potter is in his seventh year, and he thinks it will be a nice year... how very wrong he is! He gets strange messages, he is scared out of his wits, there's a prophecy, and of course... the Power of Crows! Please R&R!
1. Prologue: Dream

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A/N: Hi everyone, my name's Selene and this is my first story… wel, actually it isn't my first story, but it's the first one I've translated into English, and it's the first one I've put on fanfiction.net (well… even that's not really true, there's still the story I wrote with my friend… but well, that's not an English story so I won't bother you with that one) 

I know I had already put this story on ff.net, but with the help of my fantastic beta-reader Erin it's now much, much better... thank you, Erin! 

Well, this is the first part, the prologue, and I know it's very short but I haven't translated any further and I just wanted to post this… well, I hope you'll like it, please read&review, and… ummm… that's it! My first English A/N ;-)

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Disclaimer: All the persons, Hogwarts, and most of the other stuff belongs to J. K. Rowlings, of course… but there are a few things that are mine… and the most important thing (as you will find out) is 'The Power of Crows'… it's of course inspirated on a lot of things I've read and heard, but it still is mine :-p

Oops, nearly forgotten… the rating is PG-13 for some violence and… well, that sort of stuff. I forgot a lot of things, don't I? ;-)

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Prologue: Dream

_He was somewhere above the Great Hall, looking down at the two people below who didn't seem to notice that he was there. Maybe he was invisible. If he could fly, he could surely make himself invisible. _

He thought a bit longer and realized that he was dreaming all about what happened down there, where a small boy stood in front of a tall person. The small boy was dressed in black and had a black mask on. The dreamer knew this was the sort of clothes Death Eaters wore. Why would a boy in Hogwarts wear the clothes of a Death Eater? 

The dreamer looked at the tall person, and saw that he wore the same clothes as the boy. So there was another Death Eater in Hogwarts. Should he warn someone? The dreamer wanted to call for somebody, but he decided against it. He wanted to see what would happen. 

"Are you ready to become one of us?" asked the tall person with a high-pitched, ice-cold voice. It looked like the small boy raised his head, but the dreamer couldn't see it very well. And then the boy spoke, with a clear voice. 

"Why? What will you do to me if I refuse?" 

"You still feel safe, but you aren't. I follow you everywhere, I kill and torture around you, until it isn't safe for you to love anyone anymore. Your seventeenth year will be one of terror. You'll be uncertain. You'll fear. Fear for the Power of the Crows, who will follow you around with their messages. Be warned, Harry Potter. You can't escape." 

Now the boy stripped his arm and the tall person took his naked arm. The person pressed his fingers against the boy's arm and suddenly the dreamer was the boy, and he felt pain when a mark was burnt in his arm. He was Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the dreamer… the Death Eater. 

*** 

Harry Potter woke with a shock, and his first reflex was to grab his arm. The arm that hurt, that arm would have an everlasting mark on it. A mark that made him something terrible, something he didn't want to be, but he couldn't escape any more… 

"But my arm doesn't hurt!" said Harry aloud, to lose the thoughts of the dream. He wasn't the dreamer, he wasn't that twelve-year-old Harry Potter any more, and he certainly wasn't a Death Eater. So his arm didn't hurt, it couldn't be hurting, not from a dream. His scar didn't even hurt. 

He turned around so he could see his room by the early sunlight that came inthrough the open window. It was a beautiful room, with his books in a bookcase, a table with rolls of parchment, his Firebolt VP2 in a corner, a photo of himself with Ron and Hermione, a photo of Cho (though he should really throw that one away: she had dumped him a few weeks ago and he didn't want to think about her any more.) A very normal room for a young wizard who would start his seventh Hogwarts year the day after tomorrow… no, tomorrow already! 

Finally he had a normal room… the previous year he, Dumbledore, Lupin and a lot of others had worked hard to convict Wormtail. They chased after him. Wormtail was caught and sent to Azkaban for the rest of his life. Finally, Harry could go and live with Sirius, who had had his name cleared and now had a good job at the Ministry. The day he had heard he could leave the Dursleys was one of the best of his life. It was nice to live with Sirius. They were friends,in a way, although sometimes Sirius seemed to forget Harry was old enough to take care of himself. 

Suddenly, Harry noticed that something was missing. Where was Hedwig? She hunted every night, but usually early and when he woke up in the morning, she was always there. Now, however, she was nowhere to be found, making him wonder where she could be. He hadn't sent a letter yesterday evening, and she hardly ever brought him letters from other people. 

A bit worried, he called, "Hedwig!" through the cold morning air. Nothing. 

"Hedwig?! Are you somewhere around here? Come back!" Nothing. 

Well, she would come back if she wanted to. He didn't want to keep her caged, as he had to do when he still lived with the Dursleys, so he didn't worry too much. 

*** 


	2. 1: The letter and the photo

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A/N: It's about time for the first real chapter… which is basically about a letter and a photo *duhhh* Um I hope u like it and I hope more people will review than the first chapter (thank-you-for-review-section below, bit stupid for just one person, but who cares?) but now I've put it on my site I hope more people will read it :D

And again very, very much thanx and loads of hugs for my wonderful, fantastic beta-reader Erin…

Uhm anything more to say? Not really… this chapter is dedicated to Dado, my first reviewer, one of my best friends and a really, really good writer (BTW she's the Nalani-part in the account Sanya Nalani, but there we do have only a Dutch fic) for… just being Dado ;-)

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Disclaimer: Ohh this is going to be súch a big surprise… but all this stuff is not Rowling's but… Jessica's! You all know who Jessica is? Daughter of… well she has told Rowling the story and Rowling just wrote it down… so thank you Jessica for letting me borrow this!

Oh, and yes, I ám a freak J 

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Chapter 1: The letter and the photo

"Harry? Are you awake?" called Sirius from the kitchen.

"Yeaaah," yawned Harry. He looked at his clock and saw that it was ten o'clock am. Apparently he had fallen asleep again, and he still was a bit tired but that wasn't very important. It was time to get up because he, Ron and Hermione would go to Diagon Alley today. They already had their school things, but they wanted to do something fun the last day before they went back to Hogwarts.

"Come and have breakfast, you lazy thing!"

"Coming..." Harry called back, and slowly he got up, took a shower and dressed himself. He tried to fix his hair, but as he had expected, it went wrong. Well, it didn't matter, everybody knew him like this... he amused himself with thinking about how people would react if he suddenly had perfect hair, because that never happened. Even when the Dursleys cut his hair, it always grew back in one night. He liked his hair.

When he came downstairs, Sirius really had made a breakfast. And not just the usual bread or something... no, there were eggs, toast, croissants... he didn't even know Sirius could cook this well.

"Why such a good breakfast, Sirius?" he asked grinning, and Sirius grinned too.

"Arabella Figg made it. She told me she wanted you to have at least one good breakfast before you leave. Maybe she's afraid that you won't come next year."

Harry smiled when he thought about Arabella Figg. She was the daughter of Mrs. Figg, the woman with the cats and who the Dursleys always left him with when they wanted to do something fun. He would never have guessed that she had a daughter who was a witch, and he certainly couldn't have guessed that Arabella (or Ara for short) was an Auror. 

Ara lived near them, and Harry supposed that she and Sirius liked eachother more than they wanted to admit... especially because Sirius never knew how to react to Harry's teasing.

"Oh, and who has brought it here? She herself came here to bring this, early in the morning?" asked Harry teasing. It was amusing to see how his godfather blushed furiously, making him look like another teenage boy, and not like a nearly-forty-year-old man, but he was surprised when Sirius didn't say anything. Usually Sirius had a remark or something, but now... just silence. That could mean that... but he didn't want to know.

Relieved, Sirius changed the subject: 

"When will Ron and Hermione be at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Around noon, and..." Harry started to answer, but he was interrupted by Hedwig, who suddenly flew through the window and started to fly circles above the table. She looked terrible, it looked like she had lost half her feathers. The one's she had had blood on them.

Harry jumped up and tried to catch her, because he wanted to take care of her. What had happened? Had she fought with another owl? But she obviously didn't want to be caught, and she kept flying circles, which made Harry a bit dizzy.

"Is this normal?" asked Sirius, when Harry climbed on a chair and nearly caught her.

"No, of course not," said Harry, gasping, when he had finally caught her. Now that he had her, she was a lot calmer and she didn't try to fly away. She allowed him to check her for serious injuries and she nipped his finger

Harry looked at the table, looking for a piece of bread for Hedwig. Suddenly, he saw that Hedwig had thrown a letter on the table, a letter in a black envelope with a seal he didn't recognize... or did he?

Harry took the letter and looked closely at the seal, he recognized it. The letter's seal had the Dark Mark on it. At once he felt a stab in his arm, and he remembered something from the dream he had had that night, the dream he had forgotten… suddenly he saw the tall person pressing his fingers against the arm of the small boy… and he felt it hurting again. It hurt so much! 

"Harry?" called a voice far away. Who was it? The tall person? No. Sirius.

"Ai!" he called as an answer. He had wanted to answer normal, to just say 'yes', but he couldn't. It hurt more than he remembered from his dream, and the pain made him stop thinking… he was there, he felt those fingers pressing against his arm… that burning hurt, the Dark Mark.

Suddenly, it was all over, and he came back in the body of the normal, seventeen-year-old, not-dreaming Harry. He saw Sirius' worried face right in front of him. Sirius had the black envelope in his hands.

"Harry?" asked Sirius softly, sounding worried. He put the letter down and took it again, turned it around, stroked the envelope including the seal, and put the letter down again.

"What… what happened? What's that?"

"This is a letter from Voldemort, and I don't dare guess what's in it. But why did you hold your upper arm? What did you feel? Do you know that…"

"… that's the place where the Dark Mark is on Death Eaters? Yes, of course I know. I suddenly remembered what I dreamt last night, about a man who pressed his fingers against the upper arm of a twelve-year-old boy… and Í was that boy, Sirius! That boy was a twelve-year-old Harry Potter, but it's just not possible that he got the Dark Mark… I certainly didn't get it when I was twelve…"

"So, a dream," muttered Sirius, "and your scar didn't hurt?" 

"No," said Harry, surprised, "Not at all. It hasn't hurt for a single moment, it was just my arm. The fingers of the man burnt the Mark into my skin. Well, not _my_ skin, dream-Harry's skin. But what's in that letter?"

"We'll have to open it, Harry, to know that for sure. I've never heard of somebody getting a letter from Voldemort, and I'm not sure if we should open it. Maybe there's a curse in it, or it's a Portkey, or…"

"The only way to know is to open it," said Harry softly. He knew he would always wonder what had been in the letter if he didn't open it now. Besides, he wasn't sure if it would be safe to nót open it. What if Voldemort really wanted him to read the letter? The letter might explode if he didn't, or Voldemort would keep sending him letters, like Hagrid had done when Harry was nearly eleven, and that would be very bad for Hedwigs health.

"We have to try," said Sirius.

He wanted to give Harry the letter, but Harry refused.

"I can't touch it, Sirius, I'll feel that pain again. Please open it." When Sirius hesitated, he added pleadingly: "Please. My arm."

Slowly Sirius opened the envelope, and turned it upside down above their breakfast. A tiny, black letter landed on Harry's toast. There was white lettering on it, but Harry couldn't read it, as it was upside down. He waited until Sirius read the letter aloud.

Sirius read it without touching it: 

"_You still feel safe, but you aren't. I follow you everywhere, I kill and torture around you, until it isn't safe for you to love anyone anymore. Your seventeenth year will be one of terror. You'll be uncertain. You'll fear. Fear for the Power of the Crows, who will follow you around with their messages. Be warned, Harry Potter. You can't escape."_

Harry recognized it, and suddenly the whole dream came back in his memory. Not only did he know about the Dark Mark, but also about Hogwarts, and about the conversation between the boy and the tall person who had said those words. But how could words from his dream be in this letter? How could somebody know what he had dreamt? Or had somebody sent him the dream?

"Harry, do you know what this letter means?" asked Sirius worried.

Harry thought about a lot of things. He wanted to tell Sirius about hearing those words in his dream, but he was afraid that Sirius would be far too worried. And Sirius would probably not even believe him, it wás unbelievable, wasn't it? No, he should first talk with Ron and Hermione, maybe he could tell Sirius and other grown-ups later.

"No," he answered, and it was the truth. Although he now had heard this words for the second time, he didn't know what they meant. Well, it was clear that the person who had written this, wanted to say that this year would be one of terror, with murders and stuff, but what did 'Power of Crows' and messages mean? Would he get more of those letters?

"This is serious," said Sirius softly, "maybe you should stay home today."

"I don't think so," said Harry determined, "Diagon Alley is really safe, besides I'm seventeen and I can take care of myself. I refuse to crawl away. I'm just going. Come on, it's only a letter, so what?"

"But your dream…" said Sirius, but Harry interrupted him quickly: 

"If it has something to do with Voldemort, I would surely have felt my scar. Well, I didn't. I don't think it has anything to do with Voldemort. If he sent me a letter, he would make sure I could read it, wouldn't he?"

He knew this wasn't as logical as it sounded, but he just had to go to Diagon Alley and meet his friends. He hoped they could help him…

"No, it's…" said Sirius determined, but Harry, who was afraid that Sirius would forbid him to go, took his wand and did something he had never done before. He used a Memory Charm, and surprisingly it worked.

"Good morning, Harry," said Sirius merrily, and he went back to the kitchen. Harry hoped that Sirius had really forgotten everything: Hedwig (who had flown to his room while he was talking with Sirius), Harry's dream, and of course the letter. The letter… he had to take the letter! If Sirius saw it, he would want to read it again and he would forbid Harry to go.

"Paroni letter and envelope!" The tiny letter went back in the envelope and the envelope closed.

"Accieni envelope!" This charm looked like a Summoning Charm, but with one difference: the envelope flew to his bag, and not to himself.

Quickly, Harry closed his bag, and when Sirius entered the room again, nothing could make him remember what had happened. They had a calm breakfast and they talked a bit, but Harry wasn't concentrating. He only thought about the letter in his bag. What would Ron and Hermione think of it?

***

"Harry! We're here!" shouted two happy voices when he stepped dizzily out of the fire-place of the Leaky Cauldron. He stood still for a moment, to get used to a not-rotating world, and then put on his glasses, so he could also séé his friends. They were on a table at the back of the pub, and relieved Harry noticed that there was nobody around them, so he could tell his story without being eaves-dropped.

"Hey Ron. Hey Hermione. How's life?" asked he, and he sat down. They both looked very nice, brown, with happy eyes and summer clothes. Harry knew he himself wasn't looking happy, and he knew that his friends would notice.

"Something wrong, Harry?" asked Hermione, and she took his hand.

He smiled at her, she was really pretty now… he hadn't noticed when he was with Cho, but she really was, and told his story, starting at the moment he first woke up, after the strange dream. He told about his hurting arm, about Hedwig, about the letter, and at last about Sirius.

His two friends had stayed silent, although at their faces he had seen how worried they were, but now Hermione exclaimed:

"You did what?! Are you crazy? He was totally right, you shouldn't have come here, it's far too dangerous for you!"

"I'm not going to hide for Voldemort anymore, and it's safe enough here. And about Sirius… I'm not sure if I should've done that, but I just had to talk to you."

"We could have gone to your house," said Hermione.

"Ehm. Yes, that… that's right," said Harry, feeling very stupid for not thinking about this earlier. Of course that would have been easier and safer, and then he could've talked with Sirius about all this… well, he couldn't change it now. He was now in Diagon Alley and he wanted to have a nice day, without thinking too much about the letter and the dream.

"Alas," said Ron. "But can you show us that letter?"

"It's in my bag," said Harry quickly, and he opened his bag. The black envelope was still in there and his bag looked the same as it had looked that morning, and without thinking about it Harry grabbed the letter and laid it on the table. Hermione looked inquisitively at him. 

"It didn't hurt this time, did it, Harry?"

"Huh? Of course it… ehm, no, it actually didn't. It did hurt this morning, but I don't feel anything anymore."

"Strange," said Hermione, but before they could talk any more about it, Ron had opened the envelope. Harry thought that was also strange, usually Ron wasn't that curious, he always had been a bit scared of 'Voldemort-stuff'. But it was probably because of the fact that he had duelled against Voldemort a few months ago, and he had survived.

"Yeah, here's the letter," said Ron, and indeed he had a small black letter in his hands and he started to read it. Suddenly Harry thought he saw something at the back of the letter, something moving, something appearing…

"Can I have the letter?" he asked quickly, and Ron looked at him in a surprised way, but he gave the letter anyway. Harry looked at the backside and saw that he hadn't been wrong. Slowly a photo appeared at the back of the letter, a magic photo, with moving people, dark people.

"It's a photo!" exclaimed Harry, and at once Hermione stood up and came standing behind Harry, to see it herself. 

"Erm… Harry?" He looked up and saw she had a strange expression on her face. "I don't see anything. Just black, no photo or pictureor anything."

He looked at the photo, amazed, and she was right. He saw nothing, just a black backside. Harry rubbed his eyes, looked again. It really wasn't a photo. How could he have thought it was?

"You're right… and still I was nearly sure it was a photo. Maybe I should get new glasses."

"Maybe you should," said Hermione, and she sat down again. Harry didn't look at the letter anymore, but he talked with others about the Power of Crows and what it could mean.

"Crows are the messengers of the bad news, I'm sure, but I've never heard of the Power of Crows… maybe it's something the Dark Lord thought of himself, and not something very old. To be sure of that I should go to the library, but…"

Absent-minded Harry turned the letter round and round, and suddenly he saw it again. Moving people, a magic photo… and when he gave it a good look, the people were still there. He rubbed his eyes, took his glasses off and put them on again, but the people stayed. They became clearer, he could see that it were eight people, seven dressed in black and one in white, now he could nearly see their faces… and then it became black again and they were gone.

When he looked up, he saw Hermione standing behind him again.

"I saw the photo again, I'm sure, but when you were behind me it was gone," said Harry quickly. He knew it sounded strange, too strange, unless…

"Maybe only Harry can or is allowed to see the photo," said Ron. Exactly the same thing Harry thought.

Hermione sat down once again and looked at Harry. 

"Well, the only way to find out is like this… what do you see, Harry?"

Harry looked again at the black back of the letter, and again the same happened. First he could only see people, then he saw the eight again, seven in black and one in white, and then their faces became clearer… now that Harry wasn't interrupted, he could see the person dressed in white was himself. He looked scared and around him there were the people dressed in black… but was the black clothes? It looked more like feathers, black feathers. Black feathers… Crows… but then their faces became clearer, and he saw that they were seven girls, who looked coldy at the Harry in the photo. Every one of them had a knife in her hand.

"Harry? Harry, what do you see?" asked Ron worried when he saw his best friend turning pale.

"I see…" started Harry hoarse, but he didn't seem to be able to finish his sentence. Hermione, who understood that he was very scared by the photo, quickly stood behind him to look at the back of the letter. As she had expected, the back was still black, or became black, as Harry would probably see it, and Harry relaxed a bit.

"I saw eight people. Seven black Crows, with girls' faces and knives in their hands. And myself, dressed in white. The Crows were everywhere around me, and I was scared of them. I knew what they were going to do."

"What was that, Harry?"

" 'I kill and torture around you' ," he quoted with an unnatural high-pitched voice from the letter. "The Crows want to kill, and they wíll kill."

"What do you mean, Harry? What do you know about them?" asked Hermione worriedly. She looked at Harry again, and saw that he was still as pale as a sheet. He still had to be very scared, and just from a photo. What kind of photo was it, anyway? She wanted to see the photo, to see for herself what was so scary. How did Harry know those girls wanted to kill? Was it a kind of feeling the photo sent him?

"I don't know," said Harry. He shrugged and tried to think. He knew what he had seen, and it was those seven girls with black feathers, and himself. Why was he so sure that it had been the Crows? How did he know what they were going to do? And what did it mean? It became stranger by the second…

"The only thing I saw where those eight people. Seven girls with feathers, I don't know how… maybe the feathers were on their clothes, or those feathers grew just from their skin. I don't know. Like I told you they all had knives in their hands, and when I looked at those knives I just knew that they wanted to kill. I don't know why, but I'm really sure."

"Did you recognize those girls?" asked Hermione.

"I thought I recognized one of them. Well… I have seen her before but I can't remember where, or who she is. It's not a very clear photo. The only thing I'm sure of, is that she has dark hair, but there are so many girls with dark hair… Oh, and there was another one I've seen before, but she had hidden half her face behind a cape or something. I think they were all between fifteen and twenty years old, maybe a few a little older, but surely not younger than fifteen."

"That doesn't help us very much… but if you recognize somebody from the photo, you know you have to be very careful around her. And please tell us. I hope there's a way to show us that photo, maybe I can find something in a book…" she muttered. Harry smiled a bit, but he didn't know what to do now. He had seen the Crows, but would he recognize them if he saw them again? He wasn't sure… maybe he should look at the photo again, to see their faces again, but he didn't dare. He had been so scared…

"What now?" asked Ron his friends. Harry hesitated. He didn't want to go home and see Sirius again. Then he would have to explain everything, and tell Sirius about the Memory Charm, and he didn't want to see Sirius' reaction. He would be disappointed, and angry, and Harry just couldn't face that right now. Maybe he should just go to Diagon Alley, as he had originally thought. What was the difference between now and this morning eleven o'clock? Only that he knew what the Crows looked like (and that they wanted to kill somebody, but he tried to forget that), and that was good (still not thinking about the killing stuff), so why not just go?

"We will go to Diagon Alley and act like nothing has happened," decided Harry, and they stood up and left the Leaky Cauldron.

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A/N: Next chapter: three girls, black feathers and two new teachers in… **Crows**, chapter two of my strange ficcie… and here's my very big review-thank-you-section

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Dado Helia Vesta Umm I already dedicated this chapter 2 u and I said a lot of things I can repeat here but that would be stupid… well, see ya around & I'll mail you soon about cutey Spikey :p


	3. 2: Crows

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A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, it was about time I'd put this one up… it has been on fictionalley for about two or three weeks, but I just forgot to put it up here. I'm so sorry! And I hope I haven't lost too many readers because of it. But well, maybe I don't háve that many readers… I don't know. Please leave a review so I know that you exist… ;-) *some shameless asking-for-reviews, I admit it…*

Well, onto the story… this chapter, some more dark stuff, Harry meets Crows, we're going to Hogwarts, and lots more… I hope you like it. 

Thanks to my three great beta-readers: Aga (who'll have a cameo in this story, and a big one… she's just one of the nicest persons I've met and she has written a wonderful story), Erin (I've just heard that she can't beta-read for me anymore, but she's the one who has made the first two chapters and the prologue what they are, and I want to thank her endlessly for that) and Leslie (who's just as good as Erin in spotting mistakes, and who's really nice, although he sometimes sends a bit too much Owls ;-) ) And thanks to the SK-gang, those who belong there know I'm talking to them when I say that they keep me writing…

This one is dedicated to Debbie, who's just a wonderful girl. I know you've had some rough times, girl, but you've survived it all and that says something about your strength… And of course you've just come up with a really, really good idea. You know what I'm talking about.

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Disclaimer: Everything still belongs to Jessica, and I want to thank her for allowing me to use it. The persons are great, and I feel sorry that I have to do some horrible things to them… but well, that's the way the story goes. Yenne Loreana belongs to herself (also known as Evelyne), so does Keemi (so actually she belongs to me) and so does the Mary-girl (also known as Debbie)

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Chapter 2: Crows

They had been in Diagon Alley for about two hours, they'd bought ice-cream and visited a lot of shops, but nothing strange had happened yet. But, why would something happen here? Why would something happen now?

"Um… I just have to go to Flourish and Blotts, for some…" Hermione started, like she had done about twenty times the past two hours, but again Ron interrupted her by dragging her into another shop before they even came near to Flourish and Blotts, Hermione's favourite shop. This time it was a Quidditch shop, and Hermione, a bit angry, stalked over to a bookshelf with a few books about the history of Quidditch on it.

"She's really obsessed," Ron whispered to Harry, before he went to the brooms (he needed a new broom, as his old one was really too slow to play good game of Quidditch). Harry, who had the best broom available and who didn't need any other Quidditch supplies, looked around shop. Suddenly he saw a familiar person, with long, black hair. Cho Chang. What was she doing here? Oh of course, how could he have forgotten? She'd been Seeker on the Ravenclaw team, of course she liked Quidditch…

Harry walked over to her for a little chat, he wanted to show her that he really, absolutely didn't care that she had broken up with him, but then he saw she wasn't alone. She was with another girl, about her age he supposed, with light brown hair.

And then both girls turned, and Harry was terrified. She was one of them, he knew it for sure…He recognized her from the photo, he saw her face and recognized her, and he saw her smirk. He saw that she knew that he knew that… she was a Crow.

"Don't care about Cho. You shouldn't show you still care about her," Ron said softly . Harry wanted to explain that he wasn't terrified of Cho, that it was the other girl, but before he could do so, Cho and the Crow came to them.

"Hey Harry!" said Cho merrily. She didn't seem to notice how shocked he was, and if she did notice, she didn't care, she probably agreed with Ron.

"Hi… hi Cho," Harry stuttered . Great, another reason for Ron and Cho to think it was Cho that made him nervous… but the Crow knew why he was stuttering, he saw it in her eyes. They were a strange mixture of green and brown… She knew. She wanted to kill. She was a Crow. 

"How's life? This is my penpal, Yenne Loreana. She's from Beauxbatons, but now she lives in England so we can meet more often."

He wanted to shout; _She's a murderer! She might want to kill you!, _but he couldn't. Of course, Cho wouldn't believe him and would think he was mad, Hermione and Ron would also think it was strange (well maybe would Hermione understand that Yenne was a Crow) and Yenne… Yenne would know he feared her. He shouldn't be afraid. He shouldn't fear the Power of Crows.

"Hey Yenne," said Ron as he nudged Harry. Harry knew what Ron meant: he couldn't stay silent, or the girls would think there was something wrong with him. He should greet Yenne the Crow.

"Hey Yenne," said he, oddly enough without stuttering or trembling. For a few seconds he was caught in the depth of those green-brown eyes, but luckily she looked at Hermione, who had come over to them.

"Well, that's Ron Weasley and she's Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter, I told you about him, didn't I?"

"Of course, countless times," grinned Yenne. Cho nudged her, and both of them laughed and were soon joined by Ron and Hermione. Harry did not join them, he had hardly heard her and he felt like he was out of it. He only saw the Crow, and he knew Cho wasn't safe with Yenne around, nobody was safe with Yenne around.

He didn't even notice that Hermione whispered to Ron: 

"He keeps on looking at that Yenne-girl, doesn't he? Maybe we should give them a little privacy."

If he had heard it, he would have found a way to stop them, but now Ron and Hermione beckoned for Cho to come with them, and they all left the shop, without him noticing. Suddenly he looked around him and he saw that he and Yenne were alone in the shop. He was terrified, but tried to suppress it, so she wouldn't notice.

"You know what I am," Yenne whispered suddenly, and he saw her walking toward him. He stepped back, but he couldn't go back any more, his back was pressed against the wall… for a second he thought she would take out a knife, but something far more unbelievable happened. She was in front of him, and suddenly black feathers grew all over her, over her clothes, and half a minute later she looked exactly like the Crow on the photo. Just without the knife.

"You know what I am, Harry Potter. I'm a Crow. I'm part of the Power of Crows. And we want something from you. Every minute, every second, you can stop the terror, by just giving in to our master… but if you don't stop us, if you don't give in, it will be terrible. And you can't tell anyone, because they will be in danger. Everyone who knows it, will die, and hurt you even more… we're the Crows, we just want to kill, but our master wants something from you."

"What do you want? What does your master want?" whispered Harry, who was happy he could still talk.

"What does he want? Don't you know already, Harry? He wants your force and loyalty. Remember your dream."

Suddenly the black feathers disappeared, and she stepped back so it would look like they were just talking. When Harry looked at the entry of the shop, he understood why. People had just come in, people he normally hated, but now he was happy to welcome them: the Malfoys, senior and junior.

"Well, well, there's Potter. What are you doing in a broom shop, Potter? It doesn't matter which broom you fly on, you are always bad at it."

"Who won the Quidditch Cup last year, Malfoy? Tell me, please, I can't remember it… but I thought the first letter was a 'G'," he answered sarcastically, surprised that he could talk like this with Yenne around him.

"This year will be different, Potter. This will be a completely different year," Draco hissed as he walked further into the shop. Harry was wondering how much he knew, and how much was just boasting. Did he know about the Crows or was he just bluffing?

"Hey, what are you doing around Potter, Yen?" he asked with a smirk when he saw Yenne. Apparently they knew each other, but Draco didn't seem to know why Yenne was here. Or was he acting?

"We had… business to do," said Yenne with a smile. "But how're you doing?"

Harry, who was happy that she didn't look at him any more, quickly left the shop and went looking for Ron, Cho and Hermione. He had to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened and what Yenne was… no, wait, he couldn't tell them! He remembered Yenne's words: 'Everyone who knows it, will die, and hurt you even more…' If he told Ron and Hermione, their lives would be in danger. He knew that Yenne wasn't boasting, he felt it. It was real. He shouldn't tell them, he didn't want his two best friends to die, although he knew it would make him much happier if he talked about this with them. If telling them would cause their deaths, then he would stay silent. It would mean suffering, knowing that such a person was around. But he definitely didn't want their lives to be at stake…

Or were their lives in danger, just because they were his friends? If those Crows wanted to hurt him as much as possible, maybe they would just kill all his friends… and then he should warn Ron and Hermione about the Crows, then it didn't matter that they knew, because they already were targets for Yenne and the other Crows.

"What should I do?" Harry muttered. Whatever he chose, their lives would be in danger. Was there a difference? Well, maybe one of the choices was worse than the other. Tell, or not tell, … he could tell them secretly, and hope nobody would find out. They wouldn't spy on him, would they? He looked around him, but Yenne was nowhere to be seen.

Of course not, she wouldn't show herself, but it would never be safe, with all those people around him. He might be able to recognize the Crows ,he wasn't sure, but their master would have more people to spy on him, human beings or even other, more dangerous beings.

Maybe it was the best idea to tell them, but not with anyone around them. The Crows wouldn't find out, that wasn't possible, and Ron and Hermione would know. Yes, that was probably the best plan. He couldn't think of anything else. Just wait a few days and behave normally, listen to Ron talking about Yenne without becoming angry…

***

The next day, the first of September, the start of the new school year, Harry was beat when he got up. Yesterday had been awful. First he had had to deal with Ron, who was sure that Yenne and Harry would become lovers, and Hermione, who agreed with him but just didn't say so much about it. He had wanted to shout what Yenne was, but he had known that that would be very stupid. Then he would have brought their lives in even greater danger. He had had to stay silent.

And after that, an evening home with Sirius. Usually they talked about everything, but now Harry didn't dare to say anything, afraid that he would say something that would make Sirius remember everything. The whole evening he had had the feeling that Sirius looked at him, sad and suspicious. It must have been his imagination, because Sirius just couldn't know what Harry had done. But he still had the feeling.

He had gone to bed early, to avoid Sirius and because he was already tired then, but he had stayed awake for a few hours, thinking and worrying. And actually he didn't dare fall asleep, afraid of more strange dreams. When he finally dozed off, he had had a fitful sleep, with scary dreams about trying to protect Ron and Hermione against several pairs of eyes. One pair had been penetrating and green-brown. No strange messages, but he was so tired… it was difficult to get up.

When he was finally dressed, he had to hurry to be on time at Platform 9 3/4. He had no time to have breakfast, but he didn't care because breakfast would mean sitting with Sirius and talking, and this way he didn't even see Sirius, who had gone to work after calling Harry. But well, it wasn't good for his health.

As Hermione said when she saw him on the platform:

"Harry, you look awful. What happened to you?"

"Didn't sleep well," he muttered while he tried to lift up his trunk and get it on the train. Although his trunk was far lighter than the year before, he couldn't even lift it an inch, and he felt dizzy.

"Not strong enough, Potter?" sneered Draco Malfoy, right behind him. He turned to say something, but he had the feeling he wouldn't be able to talk. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to skip his breakfast… he was hungry and his legs trembled. Slowly he walked into the compartment and fell down on a seat next to Hermione. He didn't care about his trunk any more.

"Seems to be more than just a bad night," muttered Ron while he went outside to take Harry's trunk and curse Draco. Harry wasn't the only one who was allowed to use magic outside school.

"Harry, you should eat something immediately! What's wrong with you?" asked Hermione, worried.

Outside he heard Draco call: 

"Potter is dumped!" and then Ron curse him, which made Draco silent. If only the problem was being dumped… if it was that easy… but what should he tell Hermione? He could tell her a big part of the truth, if he only didn't mention Yenne.

"Well I have been worrying half the night about… you know what, and when I finally fell asleep, I had awful dreams. And this morning I waited too long with getting up, because I didn't want to see Sirius and I was dead tired. I got up when he went to work, and I had no time to have breakfast. I was just in time."

"Harry, sometimes you're really stupid," said Hermione, shaking her head. He knew she would go on about this and tell him how bad this was for his health, so to cut her short he said: 

"I think I've got a chocolate bar in my trunk. Would you mind looking for it?"

She nodded and walked over to his trunk, Ron had brought it into the compartment. Harry leaned against his chair and closed his eyes, not afraid to dream anymore, just tired…

"He really broke down," whispered Ron, worried. Hermione nodded and said: 

"I don't know what's wrong… I think it's the Crow-stuff that made him so worried."

"Of course. It's terrifying."

Hermione shuddered and said: 

"They want to kill… nobody would feel good after hearing that. But I think there's something else going on, I think he's worried about something else. You saw the way he was looking at us? I think he thinks we're in danger…"

***

Harry woke up when the train stopped at Hogsmeade, where everyone had to go out of the train. He felt better, especially after eating his chocolate bar, and for a few moments he didn't think about the Crows. For a few moments he felt safe.

"By the way, where's your sister?" he asked Ron. He had suddenly realised that he hadn't seen Ginny all day, she usually sat in their compartment. Well, maybe she had dropped by while he was sleeping. He really wanted to see her again, to see if she was more beautiful than the year before. Although he made sure never to tell Ron, he wasn't sure if Ron would be proud or angry, or Cho, for obvious reasons, that he thought Ginny was the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts. He was not in love with her, or even fancy her, but she was just very pretty and became prettier every year. He wasn't the only one who had noticed, she had already had a boyfriend, Dean Thomas, a boy who slept in the same dormitory as Harry.

"Ginny?" Ron shrugged. "No idea, I haven't seen her since we came here together in my fathers car. She told me she was going to look for a friend of hers, what's her name… Mary-Ann or something like that. I suppose we'll see her at dinner. Why?"

"I just hadn't seen her."

He noticed that Hermione looked curiously at him, but he turned his eyes away from her and looked at Hogwarts. The castle was a beautiful silhouette against the setting sun. A safe place, far away from all the danger, and he hoped he wouldn't have to think about the Crows a lot. He knew that the letter said that the Crows would follow him everywhere, and that Yenne had said that it would be terrible, but now he just couldn't believe that. Something like that would never happen in Hogwarts, would it? In Hogwarts was Dumbledore, and where Dumbledore was, was the safest place on earth.

"Oi, earth to Harry Potter?" Ron shouted in his ear, and he saw the grinning face of his best friend right in front of him. They had arrived, they could get out and go to the castle, where Dumbledore was waiting for them. Happier than he could have imagined this morning, Harry stepped out and walked in the direction of the castle.

***

"The last time we will ever see this," said Hermione, a bit nostalgic, when the Sorting Hat was put on a stool. It began to sing and everyone listened. In a few moments, Harry wasn't interested anymore, although it was a nice song this year, and he looked at the staff table. Who would teach them Defence Against the Dark Arts this year? He had had six different teachers, and he was curious who it would be this year...

The first unknown was a man who wasn't young, but also not really old. His hair was a bit grey and his eyes were dark green. Harry supposed he was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, as he had several scars on his cheeks which seemed to be scars of curses and other Dark magic. He was probably an ex-auror, but Harry had never seen him before.

Then he saw the young blonde with the deep blue eyes, next to McGonagall, and while he stared at her and his heart beat louder than before, he knew that what the letter had said was true. They followed him to Hogwarts. This was the second Crow, and although she hadn't seen him yet, he was quite sure that she would see him soon. She looked through the Great Hall, and he saw her eyes moving over the tables, checking every student. And he feared the moment those eyes would reach him, she would see him and be satisfied... he didn't want to see those eyes satisfied...

With utmost effort, Harry looked again at the Sorting Hat, it hadn't stopped singing, of course. Why would the Sorting Hat stop singing? Because a future murderer was sitting at the staff table? Because a young woman with piercing eyes sought him? Because this second Crow destroyed his image of a safe Hogwarts?

No, the Sorting Hat kept singing, although Harry didn't hear a word of it.

And then, Harry heard everybody applauding, and he noticed that his hands applauded too, automatically, but again he felt out of it, like he didn't belong here. Like when everybody laughed, when Yenne had said something about him and Cho. And he didn't dare look up, because what would he do when the second Crow was looking at him? He realized that the Crows were now about ten times as dangerous. Somebody in Hogwarts, a teacher (what would she teach?), could say she wanted to talk to him for a second, and just kill him... something Yenne couldn't do, unless she was now also at Hogwarts. But how could Dumbledore have allowed her to come here? How could Dumbledore have taken on the second Crow? Was Dumbledore blind, was everybody blind, was he, Harry, the only one who saw how cold those deep blue eyes were? He felt that somebody was looking at him, but he didn't dare to look up, afraid it would be her. He didn't want to see her.

"Alittle, Ann."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" 

"Berdsen, Sven."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Again he applauded automatically with the others, without thinking about it. Would any of those first years be a Crow? No, that was impossible. They were too young, the Crows on the photo were all at least fifteen years old. No first years, but maybe other students... he had seen two of the Crows before, and probably at school. there was probably a Slytherin girl who was a Crow, but he didn't dare to look at the Slytherin table, fearing for another pair of piercing eyes, or for the deep blue eyes he already knew. He didn't want to see them.

"Boat, Petra."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Dulls, Anthony."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

But was it useful to hide from those eyes? He had to look up sometime, he couldn't stare at the floor for the rest of his life. He had to face them, to look at them, and he should start with the Crow on the staff table, otherwise he would never be able to fight them. And he had to fight them, he shouldn't be scared so easily, he shouldn't crawl away. He would look at her.

When he had mustered courage for several minutes, while McGonagall called Krall, Kristel, he finally dared to look up, and immediately he was caught in those eyes. She had found him, and now looked at him, satisfied. It made him sick. 

Her eyes... they had a very odd colour, but they sent him the same message. Exactly the same message the green-brown eyes sent him: 

"I know you know what I am. I am a Crow. We want to kill, but our master wants something from you."

He heard the message so clear in his head, that he for a second thought she had shouted it through the Hall, but nobody else seemed to have heard it. He had read in in her eyes, and she knew that he had read it. They seemed to know everything. Why were they following him? What did they want? He wondered, but didn't want to think about the answer. He knew... he knew from his dream... but no, he didn't have to think about it. He didn't want to think about it.

"Telepa, Rose."

"RAVENCLAW!"

The Sorting went on, but he was still caught in those cruel eyes. When she was going to teach him, he should be able to stop this... again he mustered courage and tried to send her a message back. 

"I'm not afraid," he said soundlessly, and he tried to put this message in his look. "I'm not afraid. I don't fear you, Crow."

She smiled and looked at something else, finally. A bit happy, (should he be? Had she averted her eyes because she understood his message? Or was there something else?) he looked at the Sorting Hat again, but somebody took it away and he realized that the Sorting was finished. Had he applauded for the other new Gryffindors? He couldn't remember, but it wasn't important. The blonde Crow now looked at something else. But who was she? What would she teach?

"Welcome, all of you. Welcome to this new year at Hogwarts, in which we'll all try to teach you something, which you can all forget after your exams. And this 'we' contains now two more professors. First we have Professor Zelifi, who will teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."

The elderly man stood up, smiling broadly, and everybody applauded politely. When he sat down, Harry felt his muscles strain. Now he would hear who she was...

"And then... In former years Professor Flitwick gave the lessons in Apparition, but he just hasn't the time this year. We've also found out that a lot of pupils have problems with their O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s, and we want somebody to give extra lessons where needed. Fortunately, Professor Sparition willingly wanted to do those two things."

So her name was Professor Sparition... and she would give extra lessons and Apparition. Harry was immediately determined to study a lot this year, so he wouldn't need any extra lessons. It was already bad enough that he would see her weekly at the Apparition lessons, and he was already terrified of those lessons. He saw that she stood up and raised her hands to stop the applauding. It was much more enthusiastic than for Professor Zelifi, but Harry didn't applaud. When the students had calmed down, she smiled and said: 

"I'm happy to teach here at Hogwarts, but I left school only four years ago and I would feel uneasy if you'd call me Professor. Just call me Keemi."

More applause, but again Harry didn't applaud. Keemi was her name. Keemi and Yenne, the two Crows who followed him and would scare him, it didn't matter how many times he would tell them and himself that he didn't fear them. He did, and he didn't think it would stop soon. Would Keemi also show him her feathers? Or would she just look at him, knowing that he had already recognized him?

"Enough talked about such unimportant things..." Harry had kept looking at Keemi, as to show him that he wasn't afraid of her, and saw her looking angry with Dumbledore. She wouldn't like it to be called unimportant. She wasn't.

"... it's time for what you all think is the most important part of this evening: the wonderful dinner!"

He clapped once and big dishes, full of food, appeared on the tables. Suddenly Harry felt hungry again, and he realized that one chocolate bar really wasn't enough energy for such a long, busy day. He hadn't had breakfast or lunch, so he took everything he liked, till his plate was crammed with food. Hungrily, he fell upon his food.

"Hungry, eh, Harry?" said Ron, laughing, and Harry nodded with a full mouth. Then he looked again at Keemi. It was strange, her eyes made him feel so terrified, and he wished he would never have to see them again, but he kept looking at her. Hopefully Ron wouldn't notice this, because staring at the Crows had nothing to do with crushes or being in love. He nearly lost his appetite when he thought about that.

He saw that Keemi was chatting with Professor Vector, who taught Arithmancy, and suddenly Keemi looked at the Gryffindor table again. He winced when he thought about her look, but refused to look down… he had to be able to do that… he had to be able to look at her and force her to look away from him. Suddenly he saw that she wasn't looking at him at all.

He tried to follow her gaze, and saw she was looking at Ginny Weasley. Ginny! There she was! And more beautiful than the previous year, it was nearly unbelievable… he had to look at her intensely. But why was Keemi looking at her? It was nearly impossible that it was for the same reason… he followed Keemi's gaze again, and this time he came out with the girl next to Ginny. She had brown hair, that was all he could see of her.

With an anxious feeling, he waited till the girl would turn around. It felt like centuries, centuries in which he sometimes hoped and other times feared, feared that she would be one of them, hoped that he had made a mistake. But then… as she turned to pick something from a dish in front of her, Harry saw her. The third Crow, with brown eyes, but just as deep and cold as the blue and green-brown ones. Why were their eyes so special?

He had a good look at them, because the Crow wasn't looking at him. She looked at Keemi and they winked. Just then she turned to Ginny again, and they continued their conversation.

"Ron! Ron, who's that girl next to Ginny?" Ron turned around lazily and looked at the Crow.

"That's the girl Ginny went looking for at the station… can't remember her name… Mary-Ann, or something else with 'Mary'. She's also a sixth-year. Why? Have you already forgotten your dear Yenne?"

"Mmm," muttered Harry before he took a great bite again, so that he wasn't able to answer any questions. Of course he hadn't already forgotten Yenne, he was afraid that he wouldn't forget her for the rest of his life, but she wasn't his 'dear' Yenne and he didn't want her to become that. Now he had found three Crows, and he wondered how long it would take to meet the others, because he now was sure that that would happen sooner or later. It hadn't been bragging, or nonsense, or intimidation. But how should he react?

Suddenly he realized with a shock that that Mary-girl could be even more dangerous than Keemi. For Ginny, that is. They slept in the same dorm and it wouldn't be difficult to kill Ginny when she was sleeping… luckily Ginny wasn't really a friend of his. As long as she knew nothing about the Crows, she couldn't really be in danger. Not like Hermione and Ron.

***

****

A/N: I don't know when chapter 3 will be up, but I don't think there will be so much time between 2 and 3 as there was between 1 and 2… so next chapter: A formerly blonde, a stormy night and timetables (doesn't sound very exciting, does it?) and maybe some more (I think I'll put the Dutch chapters 3 and 4 together in the English version… but I'm not sure at the moment)

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers, next time I'll say something to you all, but I'm now in a bit of a hurry…

Please review when you read this, I'll be in your debt forever… J 


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